This book provides readers with a broad understanding of the fundamental
principles driving atmospheric flow over complex terrain and provides
historical context for recent developments and future direction for
researchers and forecasters. The topics in this book are expanded from
those presented at the Mountain Weather Workshop, which took place in
Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, August 5-8, 2008. The inspiration
for the workshop came from the American Meteorological Society (AMS)
Mountain Meteorology Committee and was designed to bridge the gap
between the research and forecasting communities by providing a forum
for extended discussion and joint education. For academic researchers,
this book provides some insight into issues important to the forecasting
community. For the forecasting community, this book provides training on
fundamentals of atmospheric processes over mountainous regions, which
are notoriously difficult to predict. The book also helps to provide a
better understanding of current research and forecast challenges,
including the latest contributions and advancements to the field.
The book begins with an overview of mountain weather and forecasting
chal- lenges specific to complex terrain, followed by chapters that
focus on diurnal mountain/valley flows that develop under calm
conditions and dynamically-driven winds under strong forcing. The focus
then shifts to other phenomena specific to mountain regions: Alpine
foehn, boundary layer and air quality issues, orographic precipitation
processes, and microphysics parameterizations. Having covered the major
physical processes, the book shifts to observation and modelling
techniques used in mountain regions, including model configuration and
parameterizations such as turbulence, and model applications in
operational forecasting. The book concludes with a discussion of the
current state of research and forecasting in complex terrain, including
a vision of how to bridge the gap in the future.
